That’s definitely at least a cult film. It was based on a book by Neil (Sandman, Stardust, half of Good Omens) Gaiman.
The Book of Life is a really gorgeous movie with an impressive pedigree: The Book of Life (2014) - IMDb
Also, Paranorman ParaNorman (2012) - IMDb
I’m fond of this Hal Hartley film
The Book of Life (1998) - IMDb
which is nothing like the one Tarataratara mentioned
I first saw Mrs. Miniver (1942) when I watched it as part of a four-pack that I got with Casablanca. It’s exquisite. It made me want to go out and buy war bonds, eighty years after World War II ended.
There is no such thing as a precise definition of the term “little-known movie”. How well known a movie happens to be is obviously a spectrum, and it’s impossible to define where on that continuous spectrum you go from little-known to reasonably well-known. For that matter, there is nothing that definitively measures how well known a movie is. There is no website which gives the precise value of how well known a film is.
This is how the thread begins. Not with a harangue, but with a simper.
The Story of Qiu Ju (1992) - Directed by Yimou Zhang. A peasant woman in a Chinese viilage seeks justice against the village chief who assaulted her husband. The Chinese justice system never quite gives her what she wants, and she finds herself out of her element as she appeals her complaint to higher and higher levels of authority.
House of Games (1987) - Direction and story by David Mamet. A psychiatrist who is bored with her life comes to the aid of a compulsive gambler and finds herself drawn into the world of a group of con artists.
Persepolis (2007) - Written and directed by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi. Animated. The story of a young Iranian girl during the time of the revolution and the war with Iraq. Based on the graphic novel of the same name by Satrapi.
Proof (1991) - Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse. Psychological study. Stars Hugo Weaving as a blind man who has problems trusting people. He carries a camera with him and uses pictures he’s taken to verify whether people are telling him the truth. Co-stars Russell Crowe in an early role before he became well-known in the U.S. NOTE: This movie has no connection with the one of the same name from 2005 that stars Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins.
The Sweet Hereafter (1997) - Directed by Atom Egoyan. A lawyer (Ian Holm) comes to a small town where a school bus accident has killed most of the community’s children. He wants to pursue a lawsuit, but encounters resistance from many of the townspeople.
An Angel at My Table (1990) - Directed by Jane Campion. Biography of Janet Frame, an acclaimed New Zealand writer who overcame poverty, emotional problems, and a misdiagnosis of schizophrenia.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. A French man is driving down the street when he suffers a sudden massive brain hemorrhage that causes him to end up with locked-in syndrome. We find out about the hell he’s going through, as the doctors find a way to communicate with him because he can still blink one eye, and he writes a book about his experience, one letter at a time.
uh Oxido, Keenan’s last name is Wayans, not Thompson
You left out Kate Fisher (as she was known then). The scene with her, Elle and Portia topless in the spa was better than viagra.
I’ve never seen “local Hero”, is that the movie Mark Knopfler did the theme for? Love that song. Mark Knopfler - Going Home: Theme of the Local Hero (A Night In London | Official Live Video) - YouTube
The 1983 film Local Hero, directed by Bill Forsyth, starring Burt Lancaster and Peter Riegert, did indeed include the song by Mark Knopfler, as you can see in the IMDb entry if you click on Soundtracks down about halfway in that entry:
Ta for that, looks like he did the whole soundtrack for the movie. I’ll have to watch it one day.
There’s a little known 1988 war movie called The Beast of War (aka ‘The Beast’) which deserves more attention. Set during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Good one. This made a real impact on me when I was about fifteen.
I really enjoyed Sweet Land:
Cool!
Love this. Exquisite. And Kerry Fox was amazing. I’ve read one of her books that was very near autobiographical. Highly recommended
Another good one!
Hardly a little known movie. Check out the awards list. Nominated for four Oscars. Won a BAFTA, two Cannes Film Festival wins, etc. It goes on and on.
A few science fiction films
Android (1982) –
Creation of the Humanoids (1962) – really basic sets and some incredibly wooden acting, but interesting ideas
The Ugly Little Boy (1977, made for Canadian TV) – based on the Isaac Asimov short story. Possibly the most faithful adaptation of an Asimov story made.
And, as long as I brought TV into it
The Day of the Triffids (1981 BBC) – Not the 1961 movie or the awful 2009 version, this one is pretty low budget, but very faithful to John Wyndham’s novel, with believable-looking triffids. Worth digging up a copy of.
I only left her out because she doesn’t have a lot of recognition in the US, not like the rest but yeah, gotta have the brunette to match out the redhead and the blonde!